A game called cyberspace
by Akimoto Ren
Summary: When our wellknown heroes are nomore, who will stand up to he, who has invented his own world? Betaed by YaminoBakuraotaku
1. Reminder

Reminder

The Battle City tournament was almost over. The four finalists and party were already on their way to the final dueling area. On their way however someone hacked into the airship's computer system causing it to land in an underwater fortress. There they met up with a seemingly young boy, Noah, who seemed to have a grudge against Seto Kaiba. Seto was reunited with his old enemies, the Big 5.

So our heroes have been trapped in cyber-space as an attempt to take over their bodies. But the business snakes were no match for the kids at their own game. Eventually they did claim Tristan Taylor's body wich they then used to kidnap Mokuba, Seto's little brother. They didn't know who they were messing with. Kaiba couldn't be stopped when it came to protecting his brother. He didn't stop until he got to duel Noah.

Meanwhile Yugi and Joey have been challenged to one last duel against the Big 5 and emerged victorious. The losers were reworded with deletion.

Kaiba wasn't as successful as his team-mates. Not only was he losing the duel, he was also losing his little brother to Noah. There was one thing always bothering him.

'What do you want from us?!' he demanded.

'All I want is what righfully mine. Your life. For I am the true son of Gozaboro Kaiba.'

'Sorry! But I don't plan on giving up Kaiba Corp especially not some kid. This duel is over! Observe the power of my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!'

As usual, Kaiba managed to draw his favorite card when he needed it the most. Not only did he take control of the duel, the card brought back memories to Mokuba from their past.

'I remember!' he said.

With his memory and his love for his brother restored, Mokuba was safe. All that was left to do was defeat Noah. However…

'I summon a creature far superior to your monster. Meet Shinato, King of the Higher Plane. Your Blue-Eyes is history and so are you!'

As soon as Noah's monster destroyed the white dragon Seto had lost the duel.

'Seto Kaiba is no more!' he yelled victriously.

'That's enugh Noah!' Yugi yelled. 'Why don't you face me in a duel? And if I win you'll free us all from this virtual dungeon.'

'I accept your foolish challenge. And once I've beaten you I will have proven to everyone that I deserve to go back as head of Kaiba Corp.'

Noah did have a point. Yugi had a hard time adjusting to his strategy. But just when it all seemed hopeless…

'I'll use Kaiba's three dragons to eliminate what's left of your LPs!'

'NO! Father please forgive me!'

Just then dark-purple clouds flooded the air wich then took the shape of a face. A face familiar to Kaiba.

'So it is you step-father… Gozaboro Kaiba.'

'Yes. And now that he's here I can claim Kaiba Corp, right?' Noah begged.

'You've failed me for the last time, Noah. I'm not going to make the mistake of putting you in charge of importent matters again.' Gozaboro stormed. 'I'm taking control.'

'Quiet old man! Noones getting their grubby little hands on my company. Never again!'

'Who said anything about Kaiba Corp? I'm talking about a new empire. This. My cyber-space technology is the key for me to be the most powerful being in the world. It's so simple, it's magnificent. Thanks to the old KC satellites I've worked so hard on, I can enter any computer system on earth, meaning I can digityse everyone's mind and download them to this world.'

'That's sick. You'll never get away with it!'

'Who's going to stop me?' Having said that he disappeared leaving the sky empty.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

„(Step)Father and son activity"

'Trapping us in here wasn't bad enugh! No! Gozaboro's now aiming for the whole world. What a snake!' Tristan muttered and made monkey noises like the robot primape he'd been turned into.

'He'll never get away with this. I'll see to it myself.' Kaiba said and set forth.

'Wait Kaiba!' Yugi said standing in his way. 'He designed this world, he's controlling everything. There's no way you could stop him even if you found him.'

'Yuug's right.' Joey took the word. 'He could be anywere and for all we know this virtual world might be as big as the real thing. Wandering off in a random direction won't get us nowhere.'

'All right then. What do you suggest we do? Sit around and wait? Stay here if you'd like but I have my own plans to work on, on the road.' he said and took off along with Mokuba.

Yugi figured they were going to have to stick together so the gang followed them. On their way they continued to discuss their strategy.

'Assuming there's nothing we can actually do against Gozaboro in his own world… The only way to stop him is to trash his super computer from the outside…' Yugi figured. 'Noah, we need you to transfer our minds back to our bodies.'

'Too late for that now. Father has sealed all the exits to the outside world. My power pales in comparison to his.'

'There's gotta be something you can do. You beat the Big 5 all on your own.' Joey said.

At this point Noah's eyes kindled with hope.

'I didn't beat them... You did.'

'Yeah sure we beat them in a duel but…'

'That's all that matters. You see, my father may have created this place, but I've made some non-rewritable developments of my own. Take the Big 5 for instance. They had the power to take your bodies by force, however their powers were useless if they couldn't beat you in a duel. I've designed a system that temporarily drained them of their given abilities when losing a duel.'

'Does this system affect Gozaboro too?' Duke Devlin asked.

'Affirmative. Defeating him should give you enugh time to reattach to your bodies and destroy the main computer.'

'Well that's just great Noah...' Mokuba siad. 'Except for one small detail. Gozaboro doesn't play duelmonsters. Only game he ever played was chess.'

'Don't worry.' Seto put a word in. 'He's a fast learner and he will duel cause we have the perfect inspiration. Me. He'd never miss out on the chance of humiliating me at my own game. We'll just turn his arrogance into a weakness.'

'Hold on rich boy!' Joey yelled. 'We're not letting you duel this guy. A duel with such stakes needs the skill of our champion, Yugi.'

'Quiet Wheeler or I'll see to it that you're left behind. I'm dueling Gozaboro. You geeks got that?'

'Very well.' Noah agreed. 'I shall take you where he's most likely to be.'

'Haven't you lost all your powers when losing the duel to Yugi?' Tea asked.

'I did say it's just a temporary thing. My powers should be restored by now.'

At this point a door appeared right next to them, confirming what Noah said. They've all entered and were teleportad to a virtual Kaiba Corp.

'If you can't control the real thing, make a cheap copy. How sad.' Kaiba mocked, then opened the doors. 'This is as far as you go.' he told the others

'No way! We're in this together.' Tea argued.

'Haven't you learned by now I'm not one of you dweebs who needs the others' support? Besides, I'm not asking you to stay here, I'm telling you not to come inside. This is family busines. Come on, Mokuba!'

So our remaining hereos stoud outside and kept waiting for half an hour until…

'What's taking so long?!' Tristan yelled. 'I can't stand waiting in suspense. For all we know Kaiba may have lost by now.'

'I know how you feel Tristan but you need to have faith in the Kaiba brothers.' Yugi said. 'The fate of the world lies in their hands now.'

'We're sooo doomed.' Joey said, silently though.

Yugi looked around the nervous faces of his friends only to notice Noah creating another doorway.

'Hey, where are you going?'

'Their family busines is mine as well.' he said then left through the door.

'Vorse Raider, attack his LPs directly!' Seto commanded, and his monster knocked of 1900 of Gozaboro's LPs. It was the first damage either player had taken after 20 minutes of play. Noah came just in time to witness it. 'I set one card face down and end my turn pops.'

'Wich brings it back to me. I play Pot of Greed to draw two cards. Then I'll set two cards face down and end my turn. Ah, I see my other disapointing son dropped in to support the first.'

'You wanna see disapointment? Just wait till my brother stops your master plan.' Mokuba thretened.

'You see that father? That's the support of a true family. A thing you never gave and were never given. Go on Seto, show this freak how it's done.' Noah encouraged.

'Well if you're quite through with your monologue… Draw. I sacrifice Vorse Raider to summon Luster Dragon #2.'

A huge daimond-scale dragon replaced the beast-warrior. It had 2400 ATK wich seemed more than enugh to whipe out what was left of Gozaboro's LPs. Especially because he was whide opened.

'Now Luster Dragon, attack his LPs directly and end this duel!'

'Did you really think I'd leave myself defencless? I activate Mirror Force reflecting your monster's attack right back at it.'

'Please, it'll take more than that to stop me. I reveal my face down, Ring of Destruction. So eventhough my monster's leaving the field we now take damage equal to its ATK. But the fun doesn't stop just there. I play Ring of Defense wich will shield my LPs from harm.'

A ring of explsives was located on the dragon's neck and blew it up dealing damage to Gozaboro's LPs. Or so the Kaiba brothers thought. But when the smoke cleared the scoreboard showed him having 2100 LPs left.

'What? Why haven't you lost any LPs?' Seto demanded.

'I told you I've set a good defense. You've trigered my other face down card, Barrel Behind the Door. It activates when I'm about to take damage and sends it all back to you. Fortunatly for you your Ring of Defense was there to protect you, otherwise you would have lost. But in this case all damage was neutralized.'

Seto: 4000

Gozaboro: 2100

'You've prolonged this for long enugh old man. I set three face downs and end my turn.'

'Come now Seto! Do you honestly believe you're in control? Maybe it's time I opened your eyes to the trueth. I play Monster Reborn to resurrect your dragon.'

'Oh no!' Mokuba yelled.

'Stand aside, you two!' Kaiba ordered his siblings. 'It's dangerous for you here.'

'Their fates have already been sealed, as has yours. Luster Dragon, attack his LPs directly!'

'Seems like you've failed to notice my face downs this time. Observ: I activate Rising Energy! Here's how it works: by discarding one card from my hand I'm able to increase a monster's ATK by 1500 for this turn.'

'But my dragon's the only monster on the field…'

'I'm avare of that. It seems as though you don't want a 3900 ATK monster.'

'You've given up and now you want to end this fast? I don't see why else you'd make such a vulgar move, but if you insist I'll take the boost and will use it against you. Attack my mighty beast!'

'Seto!' Noah yelled with concern.

„He'll activate one of his face down cards. He's got to." Mokuba thought, but he was wrong. Seto didn't counter the attack. 3900 of his LPs were burnt away.

Seto: 100

Gozaboro: 2100

'100 LPs left. You're only one attack away from defeat.' Having said that Gozaboro let out a loud laugh.

'Old man you're the one who's going to regret this attack.' Seto said and let out a laugh of his own. 'I activate Damage Condenser. By discarding another card from my hand I can special summon a monster from my deck with ATK equal to or less than the damage I just took.'

'What?!'

'Get ready to feel the wrath of my deck. Come forth, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!'

'Oh no!'

'If you think that's bad I have one last face down to play. Super Rejuvenation. It allows me to draw a card for every dragon that was sent to my graveyard this turn.'

'It's a shame you haven't lost a single monster this turn.'

'Haven't I? Remember the two cards I discarded for the effects of my trap cards? That's right pops. They were all dragons. That's two new cards.'

„I just drew Polimarization along with another Blue-Eyes. If I could draw the third Blue-Eyes I could fuse them together to form my ultimate creature. The duel would be mine." He thought.

'Not impressed Seto. I end my turn.'

'And so your dragon's ATK drops back to its original. Now my Blue-Eyes is stronger. Draw.'

„I didn't draw my third Blue-Eyes, but one head is still better than none." 'Blue-Eyes, attack his Luster Dragon now!'

The white dragon's lightning attack easily destroyed the weaker dragon.

Seto: 100

Gozaboro: 1500

'I set one card face down and end my turn.'

'Your last turn son.'

'Wanna bet?'

„With Solemn Judgment on my side, I can stop him from playing a card by paying half my LPs. So even with four cards in his hand and the card he needs to draw, there's no way he'll turn this duel around in one turn."

'With this card I shall seal your fate. Draw…'

'Noah's been gone for ever. Kaiba's been for twice as long.' Tristan complained.

At this point came a flash of light from the building.

'What was that?'

' I don't know… But I don't think it means any good for Kaiba.' Joey said.

'Enugh waiting. We have to go after them.' Yugi declared.

'Why bother? There's nobody inside.' said someone behind their back. Turning they saw Gozaboro.

'What have you done with the Kaibas?' Tea demanded.

'They've become a nuisance, so I deleted them.They're no longer part of this world or any other. They've seaced to exist.'

'They were your children you freak!' Joey yelled and rushed towards him with his fist clenched ready for a right jab. But he never got to touch the old man. Joey disapeared just before his fist could meet his jaw.

'Joey!' Serenity yelled with tears rolling down her face.

'Ah, don't cry dear. I'm good at reuniting people with their brothers.' Gozaboro said taking a few steps closer to her.

'Leave her alone!' Tristan yelled taking position in front of her.

'We're warning you.' Duke joined him.

All three of them vanished into thin air.

'Three down. Two to go.' Gozaboro said with a satisfied smirk on his face he took a few steps towards Yugi and Tea.

'Oh no!' Tea backed away.

'Don't worry. I'll protect you.' Yugi promised then used the power of his Millennium Puzzle to give control of his body to the 3000 year old pharaoh Yami. However Gozaboro's power could not be matched with ancient magic. He and Tea were deleted.

'What a shame… Now I'm all alone in this world. I have to download some more people.' he said and let out a loud laugh.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

„Premier"

„Is it a school day today?" Nika thought refusing to open her eyes. „Today is… Hold on! I don't rmember falling asleep. The last thing I remember was loging on to the internet for a good night duel, right after I watched that horror movie with the creapy zombies." At this point a shiver ran through her spine. She finally opened her eyes to notice she's not in her bed nor in her bedroom for that matter. She was out in the park near to their flat. She noticed how crowded it was out there when standing up wich was quite an achievement for someone who's been crippled for years. Noticing this miracle she started screaming.

'My legs are healed!'

She's drawn everyone's attention to herself, but only two of them really mattered to her.

'Nika! What are you doing?' she heard her father yelling from the crowd.

'What does it look like? I'm standing, walking running, jumping and everything else a normal girl can do.' she answered happily as her parents walked over to her.

'May I have your attention please!' a sudden voice came. It wasn't loud, yet somehow everone standing in the park could hear it. Everyone looked around carefully but could not find the source. 'Up here.'

Raising their sights to the air they've noticed the gathering clouds wich then formed a face.

'Greetings! I'm Gozaboro Kaiba, founder of Kaiba Corp. You're probably all wondering what you're doing out here… And what I'm doing up here. Allow me to explain. The world you see around you is the technology accomplished through many years of work. With it I was able to seperate everyone's mind from their bodie. That's right you've all been downloaded so to speak. Why you ask? To give you all a more comfortable life. There's not a thing you'll miss from the physical world. If you desire an object all you have to do is wish for it in thought and you will receive it without having to do anything. Meanwhile your bodies remain safe from harm as they were, the minute the softvare was launched. It's a hibernative state certain to keep your bodies alive for months to go. I know that sounds little but your bodies won't matter. In here you're all immortal. Living as long as you'd like. And just so you can't say you're homesik… If you look around you'll see resemblance between your virtual surroundings and your hometown. Because I copied it accurately. Block to block. Except for a few minor changes. Now, in case you didn't like your original home, you can have a new one here. I've built plenty more. I think I've covered just about everything. I'll be back in 24 hours in case you have any complaints to make. I want to make certain life here is enjoyable. This is just your city we're talking about right now but soon the whole world will see this paradise. Until we meet again. Have fun adabting.'

And with that he disappeared without a trace.

People wouldn't stop staring at the sky. All this just came to suddenly. In a few minutes a person next to Nika, started searching through his coat pockets nervously for something.

„What I wouldn't give for a cigarette!" were his thoughts but couldn't find any in his pockets. He held his fingers as if he was holding one. And that he was within the next minute. It appaered out of nowhere. It even lit itself. Nika was annoyed by the smoker at first, but when she didn't feel the scent when sniffing the air she had the following thoughts:

„Either this is a world without the sense of smell… Or Gozaboro gave the phrase smoking restriction a whole new meaning."

Coming around, everyone else started making their own wishes. Children for footballs and other toys to play with, adolescents for a good drink, some for food too, but most people only wished to get themselfes objects that were closest to those they were used to and emotionally attached to in the real world. All wishes were granted. People letting their fantasy loose wished for sportscars, women got to update their wardrobe, all was granted. About the only thing people couldn't wish for was for others' harm. It all seemed so perfect. Everyone took the chance for this, afraid this might be just a dream they'd wake up from soon.

Only one person remained, not wishing for anything. That person already had her wish come-true. Nika. All she wanted was to take a walk. Her parents on the other hand had the idea to get her back into another wheelchair just in case. But she rejected the idea.

As planned she took a walk within the crowd. On her way she started hearing her name being yelled. Looking around she saw a tall bold guy waering only black. His sleaveless shirt had the word „death" written on it. Nika didn't want the company of such a person so with increasing paste she tryed finding refuge behind the crowd. But the guy wouldn't stop calling her name. While walking she kept turning to see if he'd givin up yet. In a few minutes he did. Or so Nika thought, but turning back forward she just ran into him.

'What do you want from me?' she screamed.

'Woah, easy girl, no need for a scene. We're budies remember? We were just dueling online about 15 minutes ago.'

'Really? You're „Wokin dead"?'

'That's me. But friends call me Kamu. Good thing one of us had a webcam. I knew that purple hair and those blue eyes were familiar. Nice to meet you in person.'

'Same here. Say, who won that duel anyway?'

'Beats me… But I know how we can find out.' he said as a dueldisk appeared on his left wrist.

Nika wished for one herself and backed away so they could start.

They both yelled „duel" and drew five cards.

'Ladies first.' Kamu said.

'Why thank you. Draw.' „Wow! Holding your own deck of cards sure beats online games." she thought. 'I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode. Cool!' she said with amazement as a hologram of her creature appeared. 'I also set one card face down and end my turn.'

'Nice… For starters.' her opponent said while drawing a card. 'I play Call of the Mummy. As long as this card is on the field and my side is empty, I can special summon a zombie from my hand. In this case, my Vampire Lord.'

The new creature in dark robes seemed as if it was once human. But now the smile on his pale face had something sadistic in it. With 2000 ATK it had his reasons for confidence.

„Ah great, a zombie deck!" Nika thought, resisting the urge to shiver. „Plus it's 100 points stronger than my dragon."

'Attack her Luster Dragon!'

Obeying its master's order, the vampire lifted his robes and let loose a troop of blood-thirsty bats surrounding the dragon.

'Not so fast! Allways wanted to say that. Reveal Burst Breath. Combined with this card, my Luster Dragon can destroy every monster on the field whose DEF is fewer than its ATK. With only 1500, your Vampire falls in that category.'

Unleashing its fearsome firebreath Luster Dragon burnt the vampire to ashes.

'Of course this attack cost my dragon its life.' Nika said as her dragon disappeared.

'Well that was pointless. Vampire Lord will always return when beat by a card effect.'

'I know. But not until next turn. And until then you're wide opened.'

'Gues again. I've yet to have my normal summon. So I set this bad boy face down along with this.' he said placing a card in his spell and trap card zone. 'Your move.'

'Draw. I summon Skilled Dark Magician.' A younger version of the well-known spellcaster took place on her side. 'Now I'll play Magical Mallet. It lets me reshuffle these two cards back into my deck and draw two new cards…' drawing her new cards she continued. 'Oh well, it's been nice, but I just drew my field spell. Activate Fusion Gate.'

'I don't think so! I reveal Mystical Space Typhoon. With it I can destroy any spell or trap on the field.'

'My field spell!' she yelled as the whirlwind blow the environment back to normal.

'Sorry, but I won't be having any Dark Magicain fusions.'

'If it wasn't for your actions I wouldn't have a Dark Magicain to begin with?'

'What?'

'You managed to figure it out, Skilled Dark Magician makes summoning the original thing a lot easyer. It's how I do it is what you neglected to see. But now that three spell cards have been played in his presence the master's summoned from my deck in his place.'

'Gues I walked right into that one.'

'Destroy his face down monster!'

'Just great.' he said watching his monster perish.

'I think you were missing the tone of sarcasm. Your monster's dead and you're next.'

'Sometimes death is a good thing. My zombies thrive on it. For one creature's destruction, supports the others' survival. By sending my Pyramid Turtle to the graveyard, you activated its special ability. Now I can summon a zombie from my deck with a DEF of 2000 or less.'

'Well that really narrows it down.' she sarcasticly remarked.

'Behold my Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower!'

Bones started to pile up on Kamu's side of the field. With 400 ATK and 1500 DEF it didn't seem too impressive but its disguisting sight was freaking Nika out. Even when the creature seemed complete, the bones would not stop moving in the pile. Their movement was somewhat automatic and grotesque at the same time.

'Now the fun may begin!' her opponent said with a smirk of satisfaction on his face.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

„Nightmare come true"

'Well played so far Nika. Anything else left?' Kamu asked.

'I end my turn.' she said becoming uncertain about her advantage.

'Draw. And now my Vampire Lord returns from my graveyard.'

'Not that again! Now what?' she asked noticing Kamu's weaker monster's reacting to the other's presence.

'Hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but my Bone Tower's special ability narrows your deck by two cards each time a zombie's special summoned to my side. That's why I'm playing Book of Life. It allows me to summon a certain type of monster from my grave. You guessed it, another zombie. Welcome back my Pyramid Turtle. That'll be two more of your cards. So how does it feal, losing four of your cards in just one turn?'

„It's what I'm losing that bugs me. Mirror Force, Spirit Ryu, Sangan and a Polymarization."

'All right you gonna end your turn or what?' she asked, letting her nervousness show completely.

'I set one card face down and you can take a go.'

'Bout time. Dark Magician, attack!'

'Fraid not…'

'Quit hogging the duel!'

'I'm almost complete. Once I unleash this card, you won't be able to make a move, and I'll win. Presenting the Wall of Revealling Light.' As sentence stated, a wall of bright light was formed between the two sides of the playing field blocking the spellcaster's attack.

'What the…?'

'Wall of Revealling Light blocks all your monster attacks with less juice than the amount of LPs I pay when it's activated. I chose to pay 3000. With only 2500 ATK your magician is stuck on your side.'

Nika: 8000

Kamu: 5000

'Gimme a break! I end my turn.'

'Thought you might say that. Draw. I now sacrifice my Pyramid Turtle and my Soul-Absorbing Bone Tower, to summon Guardian Angel Joan.'

A gorgeous angel replaced the hidious creatures on his side. What a beauty like her was doing in that deck was beyond Nika. But this beauty had 2800 ATK, wich Kamu could use well.

'Attack her Dark Magician!' as ordered the magician was consumed by bright light. 'And whenever my angel destroys one of your monsters, its ATK is added to my LPs as a bonus. Oh and now that you're wide opened, Vampire Lord can attack you directly.'

Once again the vampire let loose his swarm of bats, wich started feading on Nika's flesh.

Nika: 5700

Kamu: 7500

'Man! That hurt!'

'You aint seen nothing yet, 'cause when Vampire Lord inflicts damage to a players LPs, that player has to send a card from her deck to the graveyard. And I get to chose its type. I'll pick monster.'

She took her deck out of the disk and flicked through to pick a monster.

'I pick my Red-Eyes Black Dragon.'

'A Red-Eyes huh? Looks to me, you couldn't decide who to copy, Yugi Moto or Joey Wheeler.'

'You wanna see something original?' she asked drawing a card. 'I summon A Dark Hex-Sealed Fusion.'

'A rock?' Kamu gazed at the sight of the strange stone. It didn't seem too offensive with 1000 ATK.

'Don't underastimate it. You see this ain't some ordinary peble. It'll be my key to victory once I combine it with this card: Dragon's Mirror.'

'A mirror… Typical women's play. Couldn't resist.'

'That's rich coming from someone who doesn't seem to own a mirror.' Nika replied, then winked to assure her opponent of her sence of humor.

'Hold on! What's happening to your monster?' he asked noticing how dark enegies started surging out of her stone.

'It's a sample of Hex-Sealed Fusions power. At the time of fusion it can take the form of any monster.' she explained as her creature was engulfed by the dark aura.

'Fusion?'

'Still find my Mirror spell amusing? It allows me to summmon a powerful dragon by removing the right materials from play. And I get to pick them from either my field or graveyard.' she explained as her rock creature emerged from the dark fog in a new form. 'So I remove Hex-Summoned Skull and this guy. Looks familiar?' she retorted, showing the card she picked from her grave. 'The Red-Eyes Black Dragon. This allows me to summon The Black Skull Dragon.'

The Summoned Skull substitute was absorbed into the mirror and had merged with the Black Dragon. Having completed the process a huge, stout dragon emerged from the mirror. It had 3200 ATK.

'Oh no! I only paid 3000 LPs for my Revealling Wall, wich means…'

'My dragon can't be stopped. Attack his Guardian Angel Joan!'

The dragon's firebreath pierced Kamu's barrier and burnt his angel.

Nika: 5700

Kamu: 7100

'Well played.' he said.

'Cease this noxious activity at once!' came a sudden yell from behind Nika. Turning she saw Gozaboro Kaiba again, charging furiously at her.

'Good day to you Mr. Kaiba sir!' she greeted as politely as she could. She felt as if people owed him.

'Those disks!' Gozaboro yelled annoying the welcome. 'Remove them at once!'

As he got to Nika, he grabbed her arm and tried tearing the disk off. But just then…

'Vampire Lord attack!' Kamu yelled. His zombie summoned his flock of bats wich converged on Gozaboro's flesh. Pulling away Nika gave a confused gaze at Kamu.

'It's what he gets for dissing my favorite card game.' he said and swiftly tuned away. Nika couldn't help but feel as if he was hiding a blush.

Just then all the bats scattered revealling Gozaboro who didn't have a scratch on him.

'What?! That's impossible!' Kamu gazed.

'You'll pay for your insolence!' he yelled walking over to Kamu, who suddenly rose from the ground.

'Hey! Whatta?! Let me go!' he yelled in his state, not being able to move a muscle.

With a flick of his sight Gozaboro hurled him into the air. Dark clouds floded the sky as he just about screamed his head of. He started flying in circles as his speed increased.

'Hey!' Nika wispered taking a few steps towards Gozaboro. She couldn't raise her voice because of her fear. 'Let him down!'

Her words didn't seem to get through. Kamu's movemement only became faster. His awful shriek was silenced by what appeared to be the explosion of fireworks.

'Kamu!' Nika yelled.

'Let this be a lesson to all who'd dare disobey me! It's called deletion.' Gozaboro's words echod in everyones mind. 'Now it's your turn.' With that he turned towards Nika.

She wanted to run away but her body would not listen. She was frozen numb. Shivering was all she could do as the old man got closer and closer.

„NO! I don't wanna die!" wer her mental screams. „Please get this freak away from me! I don't wanna… I don't wanna be here!"

And then everything went black. Nika was so terrifyed by the sight of sheer darkness she let out a loud scream. Her scream echod in the darkness, not another sound was heared.

„Where am I? Is this where deleted people get to? Is this the afterlife?"

Her heartbeat accelerated as she feared this kind of eternity. She let out another scream. Right after, something right in front of her started to emit light. That something was the forehead of guy just about her age. His veins were elevated through his tanned skin. His ash-blonde hair was pointing in every direction. Trully not someone Nika wished to share this space with.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

„Darkness within"

'I ask you again…!' the stranger threatened. 'Who are you? And what are you doing here?'

'My… My name is Nika and I have absolutely no idea how I got here. Is this the place where deleted people end up?'

'Deleted people? It's just the area I've chosen as my domain.'

'Does that mean there's a way out.'

'There might. You'll never know. The punishment for traspassing is being tortured til the end of time.' he said with a surprisingly calm voice and took a golden object from underneath his purple robe. It was a decorated eye-ball on a sharpened stick, fit for stabbing. He held it high up ready to start on the face.

Nika fell back and held her left up defencively. After a short wait however she let it down again. The guy didn't attack. Looking up at him however, Nika saw a freaky smirk on his face.

'There's only one thing I enjoy more than torturing people.' he said letting his item down to part of Nika's body lower than her face. 'Dueling.' he said and knocked on her disk with it.

'Is that so?' she asked forming a smirk of her own. 'Well then… What did you say your name was again?'

'It's Marik.'

'Okay Marik I challenge you to a duel. If you win...' she swallod hard. 'You got me. But if I win, I'm free to go.'

'I accept.' „Poor girl doesn't know who she's dealing with."

'One more condition though!'

'What's that?'

'Let's make this a quick duel with only 6000 LPs each.'

'You have no idea how quick this is going to be. Let's begin.'

At this point some light leached in from the outer world. More like the darkness started fading away. As difficult it seemed to understand, Nika could swear the darkness was streaming right into Marik's body until it was all gone. Looking around Nika recognised some buildings. They were there in the virtual city all along.

'All that darkness… Was it you?'

'Yes. It would appear I have this unique way of letting the darkness within me show. Something most poeple refuse to do. But enugh chat, let's duel!' he yelled as a disk appaered on his left wrist. 'I'll start things off with this: the field spell Necrovalley.'

„They can't all be gentleman." Nika thought remembering Kamu. „This Necrovalley field spell will mean trouble. Now cards in our graves are unaffected by cards on our field." she thought as the sight of buildings and cars were replaced by mountains and coffins.

'Next, I summon a monster face down. And since I've already playd Necrovalley, I'm allowed to activate this: Royal Tribute. Now all monsters in our hands are discarded to the graveyard.'

„What! If my hand's monsterless how will I defend myself?" Nika worried as she discarded Lord of D, Luster Dragon and Kaiser Glider to her grave. Raising her site back to the field she noticed Marik's got a new monster on the field with 2300 ATK.

'Hey! How did you just summon another monster?'

'Allow me to introduce you to the darkness that is my deck. Dark World creatures, such as Sillva tend to reappear on the field when discarded from my hand. It's their special ability. Fortunatly for you I can't attack on my first turn so I end my turn now.'

„Ah man! If I don't draw a monster right now I'll stay open for a direct attack."

'Draw.' „Rats! A spell card. Gues there's only one thing I can do." 'I activate Magical Mallet. It allows me to shuffle my two cards back into my deck and re-draw. That's better.' she said adding the two new cards to her hand. 'I summon Skilled Dark Magician. Then I play the spell Ekibyo Drakmord.'

'What's it doing to my warlord?' Marik asked noticing the spell attaching itself to his monster.

'By equiping this card to your monster I can disable its ability to attack, and that's not all. Cause in two turns your monster is destroyed.' „And the best part is the spell returns to my hand so I can play it again thus giving my Skilled Magician more counters." 'I end my turn.'

'You may have stopped Sillva, but not me. I reveal my face down monster: Gravekeeper's Spy.'

„Why would he change it into attack mode? Even with the powerboost of Necrovalley his ATK only adds up to 1700. 200 points weaker than my monster."

'When this creature is flipped face-up I'm allowed to summon another Gravekeeper from my deck. I choose Gravekeeper's Spear Soldier. And thanks to Necrovalley he gains an additional 500 ATK boost brining it up to 2000. Afraid yet?'

'Sorta.'

'Spear Soldier, attack her Skilled Dark Magician!'

As ordered the fighter stabed the mage and inflicted 100 point of damage to Nika.

'You're wide opened. Gravekeeper's Spy, attack!'

The spy swung into action, plucking a dagger from his sleeve he stabbed Nika in the chest.

'Agh! Man, I hate direct attacks!'

Nika: 4200

Marik: 6000

'What's going on?' she asked as her vision started fading.

'I forgot to mention a little detail of our match. Whenever you lose LPs I release a small portion of my inner darkness. Better make that next move count or face the neverending night.'

„He's got a point there." 'Draw. I summon a monster face down and end my turn.'

'Just what I expected.' he said drawing a card. 'Spear Soldier, attack her face down monster!'

Once again the soldier pierced Nika's monster wich revealled to have 600 DEF and 1000 ATK.

Nika: 2800

'Hey, whatta…! Let me gues: your monster can inflict damage when attacking a defending monster.'

'Exactly. You would've been better off placing it in attack mode. Amateurs tend to make such a mistake. Now my Spy, direct attack!'

'Not again!' Nika yelled before getting stabbed again.

Nika: 1100

'Get used to the darkness.' her opponent said as more of his black energy surged out of his body. 'You're one turn away from losing this duel. Admit it! According to your deck type there's no one card that can save you. Cause that's ll you get. All you've got to play is the card you draw.'

'You forgot one thing Marik. Your attack destroyed my Sangan allowing me to add a monster to my hand with 1500 ATK or less.'

'Whatever you pick it won't stand up to my gravekeepers. I end my turn.'

'I was waiting for that. It's been two turns since I've played my Ekibyo Drakmord spell, meaning your monster's destroyed.'

'Almost forgot.' he said as his monster disappeared.

'And now my spell returns to my hand. I think I'm ready to begin my turn.' she said adding a third card to her hand. 'First I'll reactivate my Drakmord spell, disabling your Spear Soldier. Then I set a card and a monster face down.'

'Don't get too confident! I'm still in the lead of this duel in every way. I set one card face down and order my Spy to demolish your defence.'

'You really underastimate me. Reveal face down: Mystical Space Typhoon! It allows me to destroy one spell or trap card on the field.'

'What, you mean my face down card?'

'Not what I had in mind. I'm targeting your Necrovalley field spell.'

'No! Without that my Gravekeepers lose their power advantage.'

'Yeah and your monster's 1200 ATK isn't gonna cut it. Not when „it" means my Hex-Sealed Fusion.'

With 1600 DEF, the black stone easily deflected the attack.

Nika: 1100

Marik 5600

'Okay, so you did manage to make it through this turn. It matters not.'

'Draw. If you think my monster's annoying right now, wait to you'll see how I use it. I play Dragon's Mirror with wich I can fuse it with a monster in my graveyard to summon a dragon. Who better to fuse it with, than the Lord of Dragons? Oh by the way thanks for making me discard him. Come on out, King Dragun!'

The new creature had a long tail like a dragon's but had the torso, head and arms of the Lord of Dragons.

'What do you think of my deck now Marik?'

'Not impressed.'

'Well then, I gues you won't mind this: King Dragun, attack his Gravekeeper's Spy with fire scrouge!'

The 2400 ATK dragon easily destroyed its 1200 target.

Nika: 1100

Marik: 4400

'How now? I end my turn.' „And once he does the same my Ekibyo Drakmord spell's gonna destroy his Spear Soldier, the only monster on his playing field. He'll be wide opened for my attacks."

'Draw. I sacrifice Spear Soldier, wich in turn sends your annoying equip spell to the graveyard. And I can also summon a high-level monster down in defence. That ends my turn.'

'Seems to me the tables have turned. You're the one defending from now on. King Dragun, destroy his face down monster!'

As the smoke caused by the massive fire fed away, a translucent hand appeared and took the card Nika was holding in her hand and sent it to her graveyard.

'What happened?'

'You've walked into my strategie yet again. For what you asumed as defending tactic was actually part of my offence. As long as Helpoemer lies in my graveyard you have to discard a card from your hand each turn you attack, wich also activates my face down card: Magic Thorns. With this card I can inflict 500 points of direct damage to your LPs each time you discard cards from your hand.'

Nika was then surrounded by what seemed to be branches of a thorn bush. The thorns snak deep into her flesh causing her to scream out loud.

Nika: 600

Marik: 4400

„Not only did I take damage I also lost my Dragon's Rage trap card. That would've ment a lot of help." 'I end my turn.'

'Draw. I summon a monster down in defence and end my turn.'

„600 LPs. With this burn combo out I got to be carefull. Come on Nika think! You know that Helpoemer card. It has a weakness. All I have to do is play my card before I attack and I'm safe." 'Draw.' „Spirit Ryu. Too weak to play it in attack mode." 'I summon a monster in face down defence mode, and have King Dragun attack your monster.'

With only 1900 DEF Marik's monster was easily blown away. However a spear was tossed into the air.

'You just activated the flip effect of my Gravekeeper's Guard. It allows me to send a monster back where it came from.'

'Sorry but King Dragun negates any effect that targets dragons so it's safe.'

'Why would I want to return it to your fusion deck?'

Nika steared confused as the spear pierced her face down monster, wich she then added back into her hand.

'With your monster back in your hand Helpoemer can drag it to the graveyard.'

'Oh no!' she staggered as her card was discarded and Marik's Magic Thorn spell stung away 500 of her LPs.

Nika: 100

Marik: 4400

Both the pain and the darkness Marik had been sending out blurred Nika's vision. She could no longer see her hand in front of her face. All her sences started faiding, recalling her fear of defenslessness.

'Talk to me Marik.' she begged. Even his deep psychopathic voice would've ment more than nothing.

'Why talk now? This duel is almost over. After it's done, I won't hold back my laughter. It's my move. Fortunatly for you I don't have a decent card to play, so I'll just scip this turn.'

'D-d-draw…' she stammered. „Okay, he has no cards on the field. If I can just play the card I drew I can attack his LPs directly." she figured, but then took a look at her new card. „Oh no! It's a level 7 monster! I can't summon it unless I sacrifice two monsters on the field. And King Dragun is all I have. There's no way I can play it."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5  
'Technology of terror'

"Make your move girl!" Marik ordered.  
Nika stared at her newly drawn card thinking _How could I have drawn so__badly?__As long as I can't play this card I can't attack, because if I do__it'll__be discarded and I lose the rest of my points. But if I keep passing my__turns__his hand advantage will increase and he'll find a way to beat me anyway.__Besides I don't know how long I can stand it here…_  
She kept staring at her card until she could see through the darkness and  
make its name out, then a smirk appeared on her face.  
"What's this?" Marik gazed.  
"You know, you had me worried for a second Marik, but now it's time to end this! I activate the special ability of King Dragun! This allows me to summon a dragon from my hand, regardless of level. So show yourself, Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"  
The 2400 ATK, dark dragon appeared on her side.  
"This can't be!"  
"Now my creatures: Dragun and Red-Eyes, attack his LPs directly! Double dragon burst!"  
The flame bursts of her two creatures blew away Marik's LPs.

Nika: 100  
Marik: 0

"Feuh! That was a tight duel there Marik."  
"You have no idea." he said tossing a card over to her.  
"Drop Off…" she read its name. "What about it?"  
"Read the effect! I can force my opponent to discard a card they've just drawn. With Magic Thorn out on the field they even take 500 points damage. Does that mean anything to you? Luckily for you I wouldn't have drawn that card until next turn. Had I survived that long the outcome would've been different."  
"And your point is? That it took great skill to beat you?"  
"As a matter of fact, had you drawn anything other than your Red-Eyes you would've lost. That was just pure luck you beat me with and nothing more."  
"But I still get to leave don't I?"  
"Just go!" he yelled.  
And so Nika turned around and took off. It didn't take long before she reached out of the dark area and back among familiar buildings.  
_Thank goodness that's over with. I better get as far away from that psycho__  
__as possible. Guess I'll go back to the park.__  
_The next thing she knew the buildings surrounding her had vanished from  
sight. The ones just appearing seemed further away. Suddenly she was  
standing on grass in stead of concrete. Cars were replaced by trees. She came to the conclusion that she was back in the park. But her parents were nowhere to be found. In fact everyone's disappeared.  
_Where has everyone gone to? They've probably all claimed there flats.__Assuming my parents haven't noticed Gozaboro attacking me, they must've__figured I'd see them at home later. Then that's where I'm going.__  
_Suddenly she found herself in an empty hallway of one of the tall buildings she'd seen. She was standing right in front of a door with the number 24on it. The same flat they lived in.  
_I'm home… I didn't know traveling in this world is so easy. So why__  
__hurry back home so soon? The day's still young_, she thought and disappeared.

_I always knew technology would make life more comfortable_, Yurihiko thought. _But this is just too much!__  
_She found it difficult to accept that one could enjoy TV broadcast while under a parlor hair dryer. The latter had a silent function according to her wish. Not that he actually needed her hair dried in this reality, or washed for that matter, but she enjoyed doing them anyway. However, her TV didn't run on optimum efficiency. All of a sudden it just turned off. She's reached to where she last put the remote, but it wasn't there. Glancing around she found it lying right outside the entrance. How it got there was completely beyond her. She strolled over the living room to pick it up, but was greeted by her friend.  
"I see the new environment hasn't changed you one bit Yuri." Nika said.  
"But you do need to get out more often."  
"Hey Nika! I didn't expect to see you on this side of town anytime today."  
"Unfortunately for you, I'm here. Oh, and I took the liberty of inviting Brian too."  
"You've got to be kidding me! He lives even further away than you do. There's no way one could make it here today."  
"He said he'd be here in a flash, but that was five minutes ago."  
"So, we wait."  
Came a moment a silence.  
"So, you wanna come inside and…?" she didn't finish the sentence.  
"Fine. But I'll take the remote." she declared.  
"Sheesh!"

Nika, Yuri and Brian go all the way back, when Nika had her accident, in which her legs became permanently damaged. They've met in the hospital, where each of them was being treated with continuous physical disorders. They've shared the same room for weeks, which led to their beautiful friendship.

Yuri had two great obsessions: machines and her looks. As soon as they entered the house she'd already started working on her new hairstyle, but Nika soon got tired of waiting for Brian and dragged her friend out for a 6000 LP duel, so she just put on a baseball cap of which her pony tail could hang.  
She also had a great sense of strategy. She's mastered the game of duel monsters just like Nika, except she started it at a much younger age. Her experience has proven challenging for Nika.

Once they were outside again, both duelists activated their disks.  
"I'll go first." Nika declared. "I summon a monster face down and end my turn."  
"Hiding behind defence mode won't help." Yuri said drawing a card. "I summon Drillroid."  
Nika was not impressed by the drill machine's 1600 ATK.  
"I'll attack! Cause Drillroid's ability destroys any defending monster."  
"Ability or not, Sangan's effect activates whenever it's sent to the graveyard. Now I can chose a monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck and add it to my hand."  
"It better be a good pick. Make your move!"  
"Draw. I summon Red-Eyes Black Chick."  
"That's the monster you picked?" Yuri gazed at the 800 ATK monster.  
"It may look weak but by sacrificing it I get to special summon-you guessed it-the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Now, attack her Drillroid with Inferno Fire Blast!"  
Yuri's monster was easily blown up, inflicting 800 points of damage to her LPs.  
"That ends my turn."

Nika's LPs: 6000  
Yuri's LPs: 5200

"Draw. I summon Drillago."  
"Another drill machine… You planning on striking oil?"  
"Funny you should mention that." she said as her monster launched itself into the ground.  
"What the…?"  
"Drillago's special ability allows it to attack the opponent directly, if the only cards on their side are monsters with more ATK. That's 1600 straight from your LPs."  
Drillago then popped out of the ground and sank its drill-bits into Nika's body.  
"I set one card face down and end my turn."  
"Draw. Now, Red-Eyes! Attack her Drillago!"  
With that attack Nika had just evened the score.

Nika's LPs: 4400  
Yuri's LPs: 4400

"My monster's sacrifice was not in vain. For when you inflicted battle damage, you triggered my trap: Damage Condenser. By discarding a card from my hand, I'm allowed to summon a monster from my deck, with ATK equal to or less than the damage I just received, in attack mode. What better to summon than a monster with no ATK? My Satellite Cannon."  
"Typical." Nika said as her friend was suddenly surrounded by some sort of hi-tech machinery. But that was just the control panel. Yuri's monster lay way up in the atmosphere.  
"Let's see how your machine manages against my dragon! I end my turn with a face down card."  
"The time will come. But first a quick question: how do you think your dragon will manage against three Satellites?"  
"Say wha…?"  
"I play machine duplication, allowing me to summon the other two Satellite Cannons form my deck in defense mode. Then I'll switch the one previously summoned also to defense. And since their special ability protects them from all monsters below level 8, my LPs are perfectly shielded from your attacks, giving me all the time in the world to fool around with your LPs."


End file.
